List of glitches in Pokémon GO

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This is a list of glitches in Pokémon GO.

List of glitches

NOTE: The version numbers are stated as "<Android version number>/<iOS version number>" unless it is noted that it can occur on only Android or iOS devices.

Currently-working glitches

Catch card glitch

Whenever the player closes a Pokémon's catch card, the Pokémon disappears for a brief moment before the screen fades to black.

Fainting Pokémon oversight

During a Gym battle, whenever an opponent's Pokémon faints, its shadow disappears.

Friend list glitch

Sometimes, when the player scrolls through their Friend list, the pictures next to their friends' recent activities will not correspond to the activities mentioned. For example, a picture of a Gift can be seen next to a message that a friend caught a certain Pokémon.

Invisible Poké Balls

On the VS screen before a Pokémon battle against a Friend, the opponent's Poké Ball is invisible, making it appear as if they are holding nothing. This can also happen if the player defeats an opponent's Pokémon as soon as they are sent out, with the opponent's Poké Ball being invisible when they recall their Pokémon back into its Poké Ball.

Mothim animation oversight

If the player has a Mothim as their Buddy and views their profile screen, its wings can be seen passing through the player as it flaps its wings.

Nanab Berry glitch

Sometimes, after the player feeds a Nanab Berry to a Shadow Pokémon, it will still attack for a short time afterwards.

No internet connection message glitch

The message No internet connection can appear for the player if their phone receives a call, even if their phone is connected to the Internet.

Persistent music glitch

	This glitch is in need of research. Reason: Other causes? You can discuss this on the talk page.

Occasionally, the game will not change music due to different issues. This can happen if the player presses a button as soon as it is available.

Player shadow oversight

Whenever the player views their character from the map, their shadow does not include their head, as though it were not there.

Raid Boss preview screen oversight

Sometimes, when viewing a Raid Boss's preview screen, the stands in the background turn black.

Raid Boss last Premier Ball glitch

Raid Bosses cannot be caught with a player's last Premier Ball unless it is a critical capture. Instead, the Pokémon always pops out after half a shake.

Team GO Rocket balloon shadow oversight

The shadow for a Team GO Rocket balloon will overlap everything else, even if it behind something.

Too far Pokémon glitch

Sometimes, a Pokémon spawning nearby will either not react if touched or the game assumes that the Pokémon is too far.

Fixed glitches

	This glitch is in need of research. Reason: Most fixed glitches lack the version numbers that they were fixed in. You can discuss this on the talk page.

Backpack freeze glitch

Prior to version 0.31.0/1.1.0, if a Pokémon escapes from a Poké Ball and flees while the player attempts to open up the Backpack, the game freezes. In version 0.31.0/1.1.0, the battle screen was slightly reprogrammed, resulting in this glitch being fixed.

Ditto background glitch

Prior to an unknown version, in some cases when catching a Pokémon, a Ditto may appear on the screen along with the background when a Pokémon transforms into Ditto. This occurs in the 0.63.1/1.33.1 update.

Egg hatching glitches

Disappearing Pokémon glitch

	This glitch is in need of research. Reason: Is there a reliable way to either trigger or avoid this glitch? Are the results somewhat random? Is there any footage or video of the glitch? You can discuss this on the talk page.

Prior to an unknown versrion, an Egg can reach the requirements to hatch while in Pokémon GO, but fail to actually hatch through a combination of issues. Occasionally, the egg will fail to produce a Pokémon and disappear, though it is possible for the Pokémon to appear later on.

Premature Pokémon hatching

Prior to an unknown version, a Pokémon hatching from an Egg will briefly appear in the Pokémon Box before the Egg hatching animation. If the player views the Egg, the Egg will have an empty 0/0 km counter.

Pokémon model merging

An Alolan Vulpix is visible behind Lairon

Prior to an unknown version, if a Pokémon's summary screen is viewed, when a Pokémon hatches from an Egg, the hatched Pokémon's model will appear behind the Pokémon of which the summary screen is viewed.

Flying Buddy Pokémon

Prior to an unknown version, sometimes, when the player plays with their Buddy Pokémon, the Pokémon can be seen rising into the sky. This was fixed with the redesign of the Buddy screen, which has the Buddy Pokémon appearing on the phone's screen as opposed to being in a three-dimensional space.

Grimer encounter freeze

	This glitch is in need of research. Reason: Can it occur with an iPhone or similar Apple product? You can discuss this on the talk page.

Prior to version 0.31.0, if a player using an Android phone encounters a Grimer or hatches a Grimer from an Egg, then the game will likely freeze.

Gym glitches

1 HP Gym glitch

	This glitch is in need of research. Reason: Is there more to this issue? Are these sub-glitches of each other? You can discuss this on the talk page.

Prior to an unknown version, if a Pokémon reaches 1 HP during a battle for a Gym, then the game may prevent that Pokémon from fainting in battle outside of damage-dealing status conditions. This can lead to several issues such as losing the ability to switch Pokémon or being prevented from starting the battle.

By MalavarTCOne

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

By Brian Doran

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

By Brian Doran

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

By Brian Stieve

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Charged Attack usage glitch

Prior to an unknown version, in a Gym battle, if the player's Pokémon faints as it is about to use its Charged Attack, the attack's animation will play, but it will do no damage. After the Pokémon faints, the next Pokémon sent out will immediately use its own Charged Attack.

Egg Gym glitch

Prior to an unknown version, a player can select an empty Gym and choose to place an Egg in the Gym instead of a Pokémon. The Egg will appear in the Gym with 0 CP, no model, and be unable to be fought.

Missing music

	This glitch is in need of research. Reason: Other causes? You can discuss this on the talk page.

Prior to version 0.31.0/1.1.0, the game will occasionally suddenly stop playing music due to different issues. This can be caused by a notification on an Android device or an issue with retrieving data from the server.

Pokédex entry glitch

When selecting a caught Pokémon in the Pokédex, the entry of the Pokémon may become glitched with the individual letters appearing down the side of the screen. Additionally, the game may revert to the entry of the first Pokémon available in the Pokédex. This glitch first appeared in version 0.29.0/1.0 and was fixed in version 0.31.0/1.1.0.

Poké Ball shadow freeze

Prior to version 0.31.0/1.1.0, if a Poké Ball is used as soon as it is available, then it can disappear under the ground and produce a growing shadow over the area, eventually resulting in the game freezing. In version 0.31.0/1.1.0, the battle screen was slightly reprogrammed, resulting in this glitch being fixed.

Raid Boss HP bar glitch

Prior to an unknown version, occasionally when fighting a Raid Boss in a group, the HP bar is not full, having a red section.

By Keyacom

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Shadow Pokémon purifying glitch

Prior to an unknown version, when the player purifies a Shadow Pokémon, the Pokémon will not have full HP, with its HP being 1 less than its maximum HP.

Size Medal oversights

In version 0.29.0/1.0 of Pokémon GO, the requirements for Youngster and Fisherman medals are incorrectly stated as "Caught {0} Rattata/Magikarp weighing at most {1}." The intended text refers to catching a number of the required Pokémon that have a specific weight indicator for the Pokémon in question, with Rattata being XS for example.

In version 0.29.2/1.0.2, the requirements were changed to read "Caught (number of XS/XL) Rattata/Magikarp." Version 0.29.3/1.0.3 completely fixed the text for both medals to instead read "Caught (number) tiny/big Rattata/Magikarp."

Zorua Morphing glitch

In October 2022, Zorua was introduced to the game and could appear disguised as the player's Buddy Pokémon. However, players using the Pokémon GO Plus and Poké Ball Plus devices that caught a disguised Zorua with the device had the Zorua fail to revert its species back to Zorua, causing the species to remain identical to that of the Buddy Pokémon, but with the CP and IVs of the wild Zorua. Niantic disabled the use of Bluetooth devices temporarily while the issue was investigated.

Related articles

Glitches in the Pokémon games Transform glitches • Glitch Trainers • Cloning glitches • Error messages • Arbitrary code execution Generation I Glitches • Battle glitches • Overworld glitches -- • 0 ERROR • Broken hidden items • Cable Club escape glitch • Dual-type damage misinformation Experience underflow glitch • Fight Safari Zone Pokémon trick • Glitch City • Item duplication glitch • Item underflow Mew glitch • Old man glitch • Pewter Gym skip glitch • Pokémon merge glitch • Rhydon glitch • Rival twins glitch Select glitches (dokokashira door glitch, second type glitch) • Super Glitch Time Capsule exploit • Walking through walls • ZZAZZ glitch Generation II Glitches • Battle glitches Bug-Catching Contest glitch • Celebi Egg glitch • Coin Case glitches • Experience underflow glitch Glitch dimension • Glitch Egg • Teru-sama • Time Capsule exploit • Trainer House glitches • GS Ball mail glitch Generation III Glitches • Battle glitches • Overworld glitches Berry glitch • Dive glitch • Pomeg glitch • Glitzer Popping Generation IV Glitches • Battle glitches • Overworld glitches Acid rain • GTS glitches • Pomeg glitch • Rage glitch Surf glitch • Tweaking • Pal Park Retire glitch Generation V Glitches • Battle glitches • Overworld glitches Charge Beam additional effect chance glitch • Charge move replacement glitch • Choice item lock glitch Frozen Zoroark glitch • Sky Drop glitch Generation VI Glitches • Battle glitches • Overworld glitches Charge Beam additional effect chance glitch • Charge move replacement glitch • Choice item lock glitch Lumiose City save glitch • Symbiosis Eject Button glitch • Toxic sure-hit glitch Generation VII Glitches • Battle glitches • Overworld glitches Charge Beam additional effect chance glitch • Charge move replacement glitch • Choice item lock glitch Toxic sure-hit glitch • Rollout storage glitch Generation VIII Glitches Charge Beam additional effect chance glitch • Charge move replacement glitch • Choice item lock glitch Toxic sure-hit glitch • Rollout storage glitch • Party item offset glitch Generation IX Glitches Glitch effects Game freeze • Glitch battle • Glitch song Gen I only: Glitch screen • TMTRAINER effect • Inverted sprite Gen II only: Glitch dimension Lists Glitches (GO • HOME • Mystery Dungeon • TCG GB • Spin-off) Glitch Pokémon (Gen I • Gen II • Gen III • Gen IV • Gen V • Gen VI • Gen VII • Gen VIII) Glitch moves (Gen I) • Glitch types (Gen I • Gen II)

This glitch Pokémon article is part of Project GlitchDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on glitches in the Pokémon games.